SANTALAND DIARIES and SEASON'S GREETINGS TO ALL OUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY till 14 Jan
SANTALAND DIARIES and SEASON'S GREETINGS TO ALL OUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY!
Birmingham Rep, The Door, till 14 January
Runs: 2h, one interval
Review: Rod Dungate, 15 December 2005
Great value, something very different
Birmingham Rep offers, in The Door, an anti-dote, hang-over cure or pick-me-up to (or from) endless easy-listening, department store, renditions of Xmas carols, Christmas markets and, dare I say it, ghastly nativity plays (there . . . I have.) There's something easy-going in the two monologues but you are left in no doubt that these are true satires. There is a wit, a precision of observation, a mass of enriched detail that ensures the humour is locked tightly to our real world.
THE SANTALAND DIARIES is the second of the pair; in it Craig Gazey plays David, an out-of-work actor who has to take a job as an Elf in Macy's – the piece is based on writer, David Sedaris's real life experiences. The tone is set in the opening seconds as David explains one of the elves' jokes, once they realised Santa is an anagram of Satan, was to imagine children wading through blood and human intestines and excreta in Satanland.
Gazey's easy-going and totally engaging manner whizzes us through a veritable cornucopia of festive horrors; the piece relies on acute observation and a telling wit. David tells us he doesn't know how long he can survive in the Elf world in which 'every sentence ends with an exclamation point'. It's the references to casual racism that pack a punch. One mother emphasises the Santa she wants 'White. White. White'; on the other hand a black mother complains that the mixed-race Santa isn't black enough. Descriptions of parents with cameras and videos taking pics for relatives are hilarious
There's always a fascination learning about other people's worlds. This world is horrifically wonderful (and even a grumpy bloke like me wouldn't really like to do without it.) Not to finish on a sour note, the piece has an uplift at the end, with only the tiniest glimmer of sentiment. It's great value in Gazey's accomplished performance.
SEASON'S GREETINGS TO ALL OUR FRIENDS AND FAIMLY! opens the evening. It's somewhat darker than its partner; it's also an unassuming example of US writers' ability to portray dysfunctional families with an ease, depth and humour that really evades British writers.
Suzan Sylvester is Mrs Jocelyn Dunbar writing her Christmas newsletter to friends and family. As she sips from constantly refreshed glasses of Southern Comfort she relates the arrival into her archetypal neat and tidy US suburban home(stead) of a 22 year old Vietnamese woman. The young woman is the daughter of Jocelyn's husband from his days in the war. Another recent member to join the family is the baby of her drug-taking daughter, at present on a detox programme. Jocelyn's own sons are model young Americans.
The fragility of the American Dream is expertly brought to the fore in the nightmarish farce Jocelyn relates. Sylvester portrays a tautly stretched woman, stalwartly defending her values, but ever near breaking point. And the conclusion is darkly ambivalent.
David: Craig Gazey
Mrs Jocelyn Dunbar: Suzan Sylvester
Director: Wilson Milam
Designer: Bob Bailey
Lighting Designer: Simon bond
Sound Designer: Dan Hoole
Design Associate: Oliver Shapley
2005-12-16 10:31:25